Showing direct contrast: while and whereas

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Now my favorite... While has two meanings. OK?

The first meaning tells you about a time relationship:

While my husband and I were camping in the wilderness, a bear got into our tent.

All right, so in that sentence, while means during the time that.

And now for the second meaning. Well. While can contrast ideas, can show that something is the opposite of something else:

My husband likes to go camping in the wilderness for vacation, while I prefer to visit big cities such as London.

And, you know, you could also use whereas instead of while; it means the same thing, but whereas is pretty uncommon. You'll run into it in reading more often than speaking, and even then not too often.

My husband likes to be in the wilderness, whereas I like to visit big cities.

Notice that these clauses use a comma even when the Adverb Clause comes second in the sentence.

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